Scope

This privacy statement applies to the Alberta Justice and Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security web sites.

General Policy
Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Program

General policy

Links to Related Sites:
Links to related sites may be found throughout this web site. Alberta Justice and Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security are not responsible for the content or the privacy practices of these web sites. You are encouraged to examine each site's privacy policy and disclaimers and make your own decisions regarding the accuracy, reliability and correctness of material and information found.

Privacy commitment

Alberta Justice and Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security respect and are committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our web site. Visitors are welcome to send e-mail or fill out forms with requests for information, comments on special initiatives, programs and services, suggestions for site improvement, and technical inquiries. Personal information, such as an e-mail address, name, telephone number or postal address is collected only where it is needed in order to provide service. This information is obtained if you supply it voluntarily through the e-mail addresses and forms posted on the site.

Collection and handling of information

Any personal information you do provide is managed according to the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act and other applicable legislation. Only information necessary for the provision of materials and services, and operation of the web site is collected. The information is used only for the purpose for which it was collected or for a consistent purpose. Further, information is kept only for the length of time necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected or as required by section 35 of the Alberta FOIP Act. Information is shared with another government department only if it relates to that department and in keeping with governing legislation.

Electronic mail sent to Alberta Justice or Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security e-mail addresses is treated in the same way the ministries handle letters received through the postal system. Personal information is collected solely for the provision of services.

Information collected on site usage

When you visit this web site, the government web server automatically collects a limited amount of information. This information helps in the assessment of information services and is used only for that purpose. It is not used to create individual profiles nor is it used for commercial marketing purposes. It is collected in compliance with section 33(c) of the Alberta FOIP Act.

This information includes:

• the page from which you arrived,
• the date and time of your page request,
• the Internet domain name or IP address your computer is using to receive information,
• the type and version of your browser, and
• the name and size of the file you request.

Your Internet domain name or IP address may identify you depending in large part on the naming standards followed by your Internet service provider. You may wish to ask them about their policies and practices in this regard.

Specialized programs and services within this web site may have additional mechanisms in place to collect information on site or service usage. Please see the top of this document for a complete list of program and service sections with links to specific privacy information, policies and processes.

Security

For site security purposes and to ensure that web services remain available to all users, the government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

Forms

This site uses JavaScript code to ensure that personal information entered into fill & print PDF forms is not displayed to subsequent users of the computer. This requires that any computer on which these forms are to be completed must have JavaScript turned on. Print only forms are available for printing if JavaScript cannot be turned on.

Unless you expect to need more than one browser session to complete the form, we recommend that you set Acrobat Reader NOT to keep forms data temporarily available on disk. To change this setting, click Edit, then Preferences, then Forms in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader and uncheck the item labeled "Keep forms data temporarily available on disk".

Contact information

For any information about any of the policies described above or about the web site in general, please contact us:
By e-mail: Web.Team@gov.ab.ca
By telephone: (780) 422-5964
By fax: (780) 422-2829

The Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) is authorized by the Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Act to collect child and spousal maintenance granted by the courts. MEP can also enforce certain types of maintenance agreements. Once an order or agreement has been registered with MEP, maintenance payments that the debtor (payor) would normally remit directly to the creditor (recipient) are sent to MEP. MEP then forwards the payment to the creditor once the funds have cleared through a trust account.

Personal information collected by MEP is managed according to the Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Act, the Alberta FOIP Act and other applicable legislation. Information is used or disclosed only for the purpose for which it was collected or for a consistent purpose. It is retained only for the length of time necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.

The following information covers specialized services offered through the Maintenance Enforcement Program section of the Alberta Justice / Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security website.

General e-mail

Visitors to the site may send general inquiries to MEP's e-mail address at alberta.mep@gov.ab.ca. This e-mail will be received and responded to by an officer of MEP. Electronic mail sent to MEP is treated in the same way the program handles letters received through the postal system. Personal information is collected solely for the provision of services.

MEP Accounts Online

Once an order or agreement has been registered with MEP, clients receive an account number. Clients can then contact MEP for a PIN (personal identification number). The account number and PIN allow clients to log in to MEP Accounts Online where they may access information about their accounts and communicate with MEP staff. Communications between clients and MEP are encrypted, which means that outside of the intended recipients the data transmitted is scrambled so as to make it unintelligible.

Applets

To enable the exchange of information by e-mail, text chat or to request a call back, a small computer program or applet is downloaded to the client's computer. This program is kept on the client's computer for the duration of the session. Once the session ends the applet is automatically removed.

Log out

Close all internet browser windows

To protect privacy, clients are instructed to close all Internet browser windows when they are finished their session. Closing all Internet Browser windows will prevent unauthorized access to their MEP Accounts Online session. When clients have completed reviewing their MEP file information and are ready to leave the application they can click the “Log Out” link provided at the bottom left of every page. The Login screen will appear, and clients may choose to enter the application again or close the browser.

Information collected on MEP site usage

General statistics are collected on the number and type of client logins and the various services used. This information helps in the assessment of MEP Accounts Online and the MEP Client Services Centre and is used only for that purpose. It is not used to create individual profiles nor is it used for commercial marketing purposes. It is collected in compliance with section 33(c) of the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act.

Contact information

For any information about any of the policies described above or about the MEP web site in general, please contact us:

By e-mail: alberta.mep@gov.ab.ca
By telephone: (780) 422-5555 in the Edmonton area or dial
310-0000 for toll-free access anywhere in Alberta
By fax: (780) 401-7575